Chakra Announcements

Finland´s First Ratha Yatra Festival In Helsinki May 27th 2006

by Astasakhi devi dasi

Posted May 8, 2006

Finland's First Ratha Yatra Festival in Helsinki May 27th 2006*ISKCON
Helsinki arranges Finland's first Ratha Yatra festival in Helsinki May 27th
2006. Ratha Yatra is a part of World Village festival arranged in
Kaisaniemi Park and Railway Square.

Jagannatha Appears to All
Central figure of Ratha Yatra festival is a beautifully decorated palanquin
in which Lord Jagannatha appears to the people. Jagannatha is especially
merciful form of Krishna, He loves festivals. Usually Lord Jagannatha is
worshipped in the temples but during Ratha Yatra He appears to everyone in
the streets of the city. According to Vedic scriptures anyone, who sees
Jagannatha, can make spiritual progress.

Vegetarian Food and Cultural Program
During World Village festival, there will be Indian culture program with the
Ratha Yatra, produced by ISKCON Helsinki. Bharata Natyam -dance group,
Devadasi, featuring a guest from Estonia, Gandharvika dasi, will be
performing at the festival. Dance performances will take place on
Mekong-stage of the Asia tent. In addition to that, there will be a
performance from Latvian sword dancer Nataraja and Kirtan music on the
street stage. ISKCON will be also serving vegetarian food and knowledge of
India's spiritual tradition.

The Origin of Ratha Yatra
Ratha-Yatra's model comes from Indian city of Puri, where annual festival
has been arranged for thousands of years. Ratha-Yatra is possibly the oldest
continuous spiritual festival in the world. These days Puri's population of
100 000 grows to 2 000 000 during the festival. When the festival takes
place, traditional castes are ignored and ordinary citizens may take part in
the celebration with upper-class priests side by side.